The subsea factory

We are taking subsea longer, deeper and colder. Through innovative thinking and collaboration with partners and suppliers, we aim to develop the elements required for a subsea factory by 2020.

Subsea technology

A subsea factory is a process plant on the seabed making it possible to utilise remote-controlled transport of hydrocarbons at any offshore facility.

The future resources are further from land, at greater depths and in colder and harsher environments. The subsea factory will be vital to realise business opportunities for Statoil in these areas.

We believe compact separation facilities on the seabed will be a key to success in Arctic areas or deepwater areas like the Gulf of Mexico and Brazil.

Our offshore portfolio is well suited to the application of subsea production and processing. We operate 500 subsea wells and have a 25-year track record of subsea technology development, implementation and operation.

We have already taken the first technological steps. We have made the world’s first complete subsea solution for separation and injection of water and sand from the Tordis wellstream, and developed the first subsea facility for injection of raw seawater on Tyrihans. Projects such as the oil-dominated multi-phase transport on Tyrihans and Snøhvit’s gas condensate transport are at the forefront in the development of multi-phase transport over long distances.

The next step is to realise subsea gas compression in 2015.

We have been in the forefront of subsea technology for 25 years - we have the experience and the courage to take more brave steps subsea.